A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

255 – Golden Slave (2)

Funeral in five days.

In the meantime, in preparation for all sorts of situations that could happen, I entered into hallucinations through Baek Eun and imagined situations that could occur at the funeral.

-The legacy of Baron Balzac is mine! I was his mistress! Although we are not married, Baron Balzac’s child is growing in this womb!

The sudden appearance of a bereaved family.

After having one mother, he did not have children or adopted children, but as long as he was a man, there was a high possibility that he had someone else as a mistress.

What I thought about this case is because after Noir died, a lot of people like this came to visit me like crazy.

As the resident in charge of the funeral, there was the only one thing that the mosquitoes that clung to Noir’s thighs wanted.

Responsibility.

Those who lived as Noir’s mistresses and could pocket the money that others earn in a month just by quietly whispering cute words in bed.

Where would such people easily go to work, or would they give up their old life and live a new life?

There were people like that.

However, they could not resist the temptation of easily earned money, and in some cases, they even brought their newborn children to Noir’s funeral and demanded Noir’s inheritance.

I did organize everything.

After the funeral was over, everything was resolved by using imperial law and personal force.

It was decided to create an orphanage in a quiet village in Gibraltar and raise children there through nannies hired by the empire.

The governments got involved with the empire’s nobles and corporate descendants and removed them from Gibraltar.

Whether they lived as playthings of the imperial people or were discovered dead one day by someone, after they left Gibraltar, they never returned to Gibraltar again, as if they had caused a scene at the funeral.

I was planning to take the same measures this time as well.

Killing is a way, threatening is also a way, but since I am not a traitor Gray but a 19-year-old minor Governor Gray, I tried to control the level within an appropriate range.

‘If it’s resolved in a good way, that’s the best thing.’

The best case is if the government does not step forward to take over Baron Gunther of Lembourg.

If she tried to play with her her Lemburgunter’s her assets her her her to her her end her her, I would bequeath to her her all that Lemburgunther had her her.

-Then I have to inherit Lemberi as well…

-… He said that this unborn child was his inheritance! I have no intention of taking over as Baron Gunther of Lembourg!

Even the debt called Lemberi.

Debt is also an asset.

Lembury has the image of purely bad debt, but for the nobility and above, there was a strong perception that debt was only a temporary debt as a value investment for the future.

So.

“Excuse me, ma’am. “What was your relationship with the deceased?”

“Oh, well, that is.”

In fact, there was one middle-aged woman dressed in mourning clothes who came to Baron Balzac’s morgue to see his body.

“We were just chess friends.”

“He was a chess friend. The deceased was very interested in chess. Now, he has to dispose of the chessboard to pay off his debt, which is very unfortunate.”

“You’re even disposing of the chess board?”

The crow-like woman, who thought she might be able to tear something from the corpse, realized that the corpse was poisoned with her own poison and retreated in horror.

“Yes. The deceased’s debt is more significant than expected. It is a burdensome amount to bear as the only grandchild, so if I receive an inheritance, I am considering selling the entire barony castle.”

“Ah, I see. … I pray that the deceased rest in peace.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The woman who was presumed to be his mistress stepped down like that.

Chess friend?

The slang must also be appropriate. Doesn’t the fact that a man and a woman play chess mean that there is a situation where they are alone?

Of course, she doesn’t just play chess with women.

Rather, men often play chess with each other, and this is by no means referring to chess as a slang term.

A chess match in the purest sense.

However, rather than betting on winning or losing, it is a betting game where you bet money or property depending on whether you win or lose.

-I used to play chess with Baron Balzac for quite a while. Every time he lost, he risked his fortune. Here is a contract to repay a chess debt. There is also a separate guarantee. Exactly. I have come to collect the debt owed by Baron Gunther of Lembourg!

Even though it was a funeral, I thought there would be someone urging Baron Balzac’s surviving family to give up money to collect the debt he owed.

“Hmm. I am the owner of the Ivan Chamber of Commerce, and I have maintained a relationship with Baron Balzac for quite a long time.”

It actually appeared.

It wasn’t common for the merchant who traded with that family to come to the funeral of a nobleman, and a rolled-up parchment was seen in his arms.

“I see. Is it related to Lemberi?”

And I already knew information about those people.

“W-what suddenly…?”

“As the chairman of the Orosol Academy Canyon Foundation, while handling Lemburi-related work, I came across some interesting things. For example, the cloth provided to students when setting up tents at Lemberi Camp…”

“S-Stop! Whoa, what do you want?”

“Let’s do something that never happened. With faith and trust.”

“K, keuhm…”

I got rid of several debts by making a reasonable deal with them.

Do not apply too much pressure.

Among the Nostrum people, there were those who tried to use force when they were on the defense.

‘Not this time.’

There are no service gangsters.

There are no barbaric people who break into funeral halls, destroy furniture, shout at those in mourning clothes, sit on their butts in the banquet hall, pour down alcohol, and gobble down food.

How can you come to a funeral and be so rude?

It is possible.

‘Because that’s work.’

Letting go of your conscience, thinking that you will see each other once anyway and never see each other again, dealing with strangers whom you have never known before, and making a mess of the funeral if part of the debt you are trying to get is for your troubles. It wasn’t even a thing.

‘A lot of the Nostrum service drivers hired by the rich people of the empire were like that.’

Service engineer.

They were the fallen knights.

After the fall of the kingdom, the nobles dismissed the knights.

As there was no longer a need for armed forces, the knights suddenly became unemployed, and all they had was swordsmanship and military force, which were not very useful in a unified empire.

They didn’t care where they went.

I visited the rich people of the empire who had been forced to live on the streets by the kingdom’s heroic con men, and I also visited the funerals of those who had their homes and land taken away by the empire’s nobility.

I was also indebted to Gyeongryongjang.

Although I hired them and mainly used them to drive out those who went bankrupt in Gyeongryongjang and begged for help while lamenting their situation, some nobles hired them as private armed forces and used them as organized thugs.

Well, there were no such people this time.

Even if there was one, they are former knights, so they know better than anyone else where to stretch out and lie down with force.

Gray Gibraltar, there is no way he would go out to a place where the Master resides.

It’s not just Gray Gibraltar, there are others as well.

‘I owe a lot to my father.’

Crimson Gibraltar.

Regardless of various political or economic reasons, there were too many people who were concerned about one person called Crimson Gibraltar.

Only two people came to see the body in person and tried to talk to me, but many of them gave up that idea as soon as they met my father before coming down to the morgue.

So, my worries were just unfounded.

No one came to the funeral and had any trouble, and St. Geo Nostrum only donated gold to us a few times.

There was no Noir who came to attend the funeral at the academy, or an assassin who appeared to target the younger sisters who were still unable to take care of themselves.

Rather, the shadows that assassinate the assassins were mainly active, and the only traces of death were near the funeral home.

Perhaps it’s all because there was an entity called Crimson Gibraltar.

And so, the funeral finally reached its final day.

“Let’s get cremated.”

We decided to make an altar and burn the body in front of everyone.

* * *

Barcelona Central Square.

Hwareuk.

It catches fire.

On top of an altar made of wood, a sarcophagus made of magic stones lying upright catches fire and begins to burn brightly.

There is no stench of a burning body.

Thanks to the somnus pollen and medicinal herbs sprinkled on the body, the odor is not that bad.

-Well, when I go, I go in the most extravagant way.

I heard someone murmur in my ear.

Other than me, other masters who came here probably also heard it, but the person concerned didn’t seem to notice.

But even the masters don’t point it out.

There’s no particular reason to point it out, and although it’s something I said to myself without realizing it, it’s not particularly wrong.

-That coffin is filled with gold, right?

-Isn’t it full?

-It won’t be full. There are probably just enough chunks placed there.

There is gold in the coffin.

As a result of mobilizing knights to dig up the entire land of the gold mine that Baron Balzac Lembourg Gunther was trying to mine, we were able to discover a huge vein of gold where he had extended his pickaxe.

A piece of gold was placed next to the body as a means of spending money on the way.

It may seem like there is no point in saying that it is something done after death, but isn’t it originally done so that the living can feel at ease?

“…”

Burning.

Even though it is suppressed with herbs, the faint smell of burning corpses, which still feels spicy, stimulates the sense of smell.

And that smell, paradoxically, made me feel a little relieved.

“It’s okay, ma’am.”

The father holds her mother in his chest and pats her.

Although some people do not wail, it is sad to see them shed tears, but what percentage of those tears are actually mourning for their dead father?

1%?

It will be less than that.

It may not be 0%, though.

‘Tears of liberation.’

For a long time, Baron Balzac had been trying to redeem his mother.

He saw his children as a means of self-reliance, and tried to make a living for himself by somehow marrying them off to men from wealthy families.

Isn’t the Gibraltar family rich enough?

There is a premise.

Not only did he want to benefit from his son-in-law, but he also wanted his in-laws to be with a family that could accumulate enormous assets and enjoy luxury and pleasure.

Therefore, he is a person who wants to live a life of luxury and waste with assets that can be used dozens of times a day for the gold nuggets in the coffin.

I understand.

Every human being wants to live buried in gold.

Because I once lived the life of a traitor, Gray, I vaguely understand that feeling.

And those who had not experienced such an experience could only look at the burning altar of Baron Balzac and feel truly sad.

“To die and become rich, really. Tsk tsk.”

What does it mean to become rich after you die?

Some say that death is the completion of humanity, but if ending like this is the completion, wouldn’t it be truly fleeting and useless?

If only I die.

Dying for someone, leaving behind the most valuable thing-

Goo goo goo.

“…?”

Below, I began to feel vibrations.

“Huh?”

“Wait, what now?”

Master level players felt it first.

“The ground is shaking…?”

Kwaaa!!

A huge explosion.

Could it be terrorism?

I instinctively stretched out my hand as if to protect Astasia, but-

“Tongue, bro?!”

“…”

It wasn’t Astasia, it was Noir.

Wednesday, who was next to me, awkwardly stretched out her hand to protect Noir, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the direction the explosion occurred.

“…What is that?”

A sight I have never seen before.

“…Golden fountain?”

Everyone’s eyes were fixed not on the burning corpse, but on the golden fountain visible beyond the castle walls.

* * *

The water vein burst.

Groundwater burst through the gold vein.

The groundwater that burst out with a huge amount of placer gold was like a fountain, and water flooded not only the area dug by the knights of Barcelona but also below, forming a lake.

Something sparkling mixed in with the flowing water.

People were mesmerized by the enormous amount of gold dust.

And everyone praised and expressed condolences.

To the old man who, even though he died, managed to find another vein of gold and created a golden lake.

Everyone named the lake [Balzac] Lake in honor of the old man.

And everyone mourned him and praised him.

Sigeumgong (沙金公).

Even though he died.